>> good morning. my name is david and would like to welcome all o >> i would like to welcome at the 31st annual southern festival the books today at the national public library thank you for hosting this event we have been a great partner for several years and we just want to say thank you. the festival of books is an annual event presented by humanity's tendency and all who contribute to that organization for that support of the written word and

community history and civil discord one - - discourse our story and our state and also to help us to tell and preserve ourto stories. >> so a bed of housekeeping i will introduce ourl author and will share some stories and insights of the book, no surrender and then opened the floor to questions if you do have a and question please ask with the microphone at the conclusion feel free to join us at the tent where pastor edmonds will be to get a copy of his book and to hear more about his story.

senior pastor of the baptist church in tennessee and chief executive officer and also the edmonds foundation with the university of tennessee from liberty university teaching leadership and his wife lives in tennessee with their three daughters and son-in-law's with the coolest grandchildren on the planet. [laughter] please help me to welcome our author pastor edmonds. [applause] >> thank you for coming out this saturday morning.

and for the privilege and honor to be h there. and then c-span i didn't realize i would be on c-span and we are in a building and a library and the love for books fueled with words because they inspire us. they impact us in such a powerful way. they can even inflame us but most of all they inform i us.

now where i'm from back rightt come from this is your special day. now he's tennessee hillbillies. so talking about no surrender of book 347 pages long. now miss betsy was here, she would be so thrilled i had written a book and proud to say griff wrote a book and in the 347 pages those words are blended together and many of

the men that serve with them in world war ii. and those that take us back from today to thrust us back 70 years ago from the time of world war ii story that is just as rich today and terrifying as it was then. has anybody read it yet? >> i listen to it on audible. >> we listen to it on the wayay down. this is a powerful story. i thank you will smile and you will laugh and hopefully you

will stand up to cheer this is an american story it is a christian story in a jewish story and the story about humanity and doing what's right forhe others. that's what we need in this day and age. i hope you will enjoy the power of words the gentleman that i have met and come to love l the last 15 years has been traveling around the world sharing the holocaust experiencee. but the one thing that's very clear it all startedh with words words are

powerful. and private first class for personnel the german armed forces the decorated soldier received citations and those that were hiding during world war i. and to be temporarily blinded in a mustard gasas attack and as a squad of 26 with the anti- bolshevik sentiments of the troops and to be idea he excelled in the training course working alongside his commander with a dynamic

soldier of great passion and enthusiasm. so on those lectures and who bears the guilt for world war? to create his own provocative lectures to be fully engaged and for the first time he learned to serve his audience oro action. almost by chance he discovered this gift the main theme that he held nothing back with his hatred of jews. especially with capitalism the jewish question so much so his commander asked him to tone down thehe anti- somatic rhetoric that later with his

ability to communicate and his expertise the superior carl meyer asked the star to answer the inquiry about the jewish question. and olivia letter dated to identify the jews as the ones responsible for the communist movement in the area to describe them as the tuberculosis of the people. he wrote the anti-semitismys was a systematic removal of the rights of the jews and altogether private first class adolf hitle hitler. hehe stood out as a communicator and then to engulf of

catastrophic violence. the very day my father was born hitler learned he could speak and from those words our world was never the same. words arerd power. it all started with words. dad's written words as a little boy. he set up a little boy seven years old. go to school i want you to bring me a car big enough to ride in and all kinds of candy. he needs the invalid chair. i'm a little boy without a mother and a little boy without a father. words. i'm sure you get excited about words when you reador them those words were found in scriptures

but the favoritete scripture was he shall separate us from the love of christ through persecution that yet in all of these things through him who loved us. those were words that he lived byy. and carried him into world war ii and on through world war ii. the reason the book was written world war ii and the words that he lived by but i just read was romans chapter eight. but he also wrote a diary and those were words that inspired me to begin the journey and

then he said a lot of things i know god was with us and answered our prayers perk i even earned len - - learn then some are good or bad or better or worse. he learned that in the context of brutality in the violence of war he also learned other things that are detailed in the book not all of them but some of them sooo late afternoon while he was on the battlefront the battle of the bulge begins to step out for some air it was foolish of me to do so and then the bullet whistled above my head to embed itself in the wall behind me i was thankful he

was on my side i did not hesitate to tell him. there are no atheist in the foxhole. those words were powerful and they stirred my heart a little over six years ago to begin a journey those that served in world war ii 95 percent of the words in this book i did not know until the beginning of 2013. so it's a great testimony to research and discover our own roots and family and the history we have what we have

and that we enjoy what we enjoy to those who lived before us. is words lead me to search on the internet and master sergeant edmonds led me to what appeared is an article in the new york times which are niche - - nixon search i was stunned my dad's name is highlighted to recount how the president wanted to move toe new york and nobody wanted them to be his neighbor. except for lester tanner and he sold his townhouse to the

president the president showed up a couple of days later they bought the townhouse and said i should have charged him more but as i was reading that article asking about his past and that he was in world war iith staff sergeant and said this if not for the bravery who defied the nazis and save my life i would not have met the president. i was shocked and could not believe it so we celebrate those words in this place and the beautiful library some meeting in the harvard club he shared with me for the first

time an amazing story that surrounded that one of those is lester. he finished talking to me saying your father deserves the medal of honor. that's worthy to pursue with the mission and a passion to come back i talked to my congressman at the time and began pursuing the medal of honor. the action that that took and the prisoner of war camp where he defied the not see major the major came up to him wanting the jewish man to falll out but we are not doing that

we're all falling out so that's what they did. the major appeared he cannot believe his eyes. 1300 and sharp formation expecting just the jews. my father got in his face and said we can't all be jews and he said we're all s jews. i'll ask you to read the rest of the book to find out what happened. but were dad defied the not see major and the words later turned the tide because if you share words of truth they make a difference.

so you see paul stern on the fall line - - on the far left and lester on thiss right corner and then use the skip friedman up above other men are involved i love their families and one of the best blessings is to meet these men and here of their lives and experience the beauty and the wonder of their families. very grateful and the words we share. just where he protected the jewish

and i love to say he's the first tennesean to be named so we are grateful for that and we are pursuing the medal of honor. obviously a ceremony was a big deal so to speak to president obama was our guest of honor. he came and spoke. it was incredible event and let me go back to the next -- d.c. neighbor the oc recognize? lamar alexander and who else? senator corker was there. who is the fellow on the far left? david spielberg.

i have to warm up the crowd for the president. stephen spielberg. i warmed up the crowd for mr. spielberg and mr. obama. and their words were very poignant and powerful. mr. obama i said i can't think f a better expression of christianity than to say i too he is correct. and so later we would travel to israel and dads name would be inscribed upon the wall. as special ceremony and we are so grateful for that.

dad has been recommended for medal of honor so this look comes out of the fact that we pursued the medal of honor. never intended to write a book but it needed to be told. i have had hundreds of hours of research and thousands of files. there is as much not in the book that is in the book. i'm grateful for that. then i had the privilege of meeting prime minister netanyahu on one of my recent trips to thank him and the nation of israel for this great honor. these men who served so well, paul who was in a wheelchair last year in the purple tie and sunny in the light tos tie and paul's wife and ambassador as well. this was paul's 91st birthday at the ceremony trait he said

what a birthday. the president came and sang happy birthday to me. and it was quite a birthday. so i believe an ordinary life lived well as extraordinaire. my dad was ordinary as common as you and i. he made extraordinary choices when it mattered. he made choices that were right for his god, that were right for his men and right for humanity. we need to do the same. you and i will have the same opportunities at some point in time to make the decision that will better someone else. we will do the t right thing. so i challenge you as i challenge myself on a day-to-day basis regardless of the circumstances do what is right for others. we reallyy are our brothers and sisters keepers. leave here today, live heroic

and be a hero. those are my opening remarks. i want to w thank you for the privilege of sharing that and now we are going to take some questions i guess. if you don't ask me questions i'm going to ask you questions. i hope you do have some questions. if you do have a question please ouep up to the microphone. while you were thinking of her question i will ask you a question. there are so many great stories in the book and i was wondering if you could tell a little bit about the story on the train. >> the story on the train after they were captured they were marched for several days without food and water and then they were loaded onto boxcars, the same boxcars that were taking jewish people to their deaths. they were taken deeper into germany. you have thousands of americanr soldiers in these boxcars and they are slowly going down the

track into germany. whenever there were trains that were bringing troops by headed to the front of the train would be shuttled off to a rill car to the side. sometimes they would wait for a few hours and sometimes they would wait overnight so they felt like they were in that train forever. standing room only. again no food, no water and they had no place to use the restroom and very horrible experience. my father would describe it as humiliating. they had been on that journey for several days and on december december 23 the night before christmas eve actually lades on the 23rd they were shuttled over into lindbergh train yards. it just so happened the sky had cleared that day.ap the weather had been very

overcast v and frigid and ugly r daysys. and there bombers got the okay to fly. and they flew directly to the lindbergh train yard. i get emotional when i think about it. i began talking bombs on the train yard. unmarked boxcars where trains full of tanks and lots of armament. they bombed to smithereens out of that train yard. those p.o.w.s were left for dead the germans fled the train and didn't let the prisoners out. they had to hear every one of those bombs coming their way. when you're an infantryman and the shells start flying you can

usually find a place to hide. we cane begin and find the place to avoid those shells and he said when you are on a boxcar you have nowhere to run. he said it's the most terrifying thing. you hear every one of those bombs. he said pouring down on us. build a -- capacity again. it was chaos. the men were harming each other trying to break free but there was no way w out. screaming scratching gnashing pounding, you name it. hank friedman was in the boxcar. he was one of dad sergeant andy said in the midst of the chaos and confusion when we were literally trying to kill ourselves to get out he said i heard the voice of the southern

drawl rise up above the boxcar. he said it's your father. her dad said boys you better pray. our god will save us and boy, you've got to pray. he said the boxcar got deathly quiet and we prayed and we prayed. i heard your father over all of us and then as suddenly as the bombs fell they stopped and we were saved. he said chris that was your dad's faith. he said i'd grew up as a jewish boy and i have never seen faith so strongly demonstrated. your dad's faith was absolutely amazing. i speak of it often. so hank is still alive. he's living iniv georgia. i just got a facebook in an e-mail from him two days ago.

he loved the book. he is in the books and so hank is one of those dear, dear soldiers who served long ago but who lived a life, an ordinary life of extraordinary influence in the still influencing people today. do we have any veterans here in the room today who served in the armed forces? is. just want to thank them. let's give them all a hand. thank you. [applause] i love our veterans. i loved those who have served and those who are serving. i salute you. thank you so much. another question. anybody? yes maam. >> the feca please step toim the microphone. >> they are going to bring you one. >> 1300 u.s. soldiers.

>> 1292 soldiers that went into the camp and 1275 became out. several of them died. >> when your father told the commandant that we are all a jewish howow many, how great was the jewish count? how many m jewish soldiers? he did know the exact count but he said there were over 200 i been out why there was such a large contingents of jewish oldstersol there in a group of 1300. the reason is because many of those men had served in the ast be a army specialist training program. it's a special program where the army turned out the best and the brightest and they sent them to colleges all across the united states. this was before d-day and the plan was to create and train up

officers through their college experiences. .. w there meals and their soldier training that they also cut classes and friedman and his mari ended up at the university of of emma. actually skip in it up at the university of alabama because his brother had been armed as scholarship of the football team. and skip is the great football player two, but in the midst of mari, his brothers experience at the university of alabama war broke out in mari joy the service. he stepped away from his album scholarship. in between service. we had so monday patriotic voices stepped up to the plate. i'm grateful for that. he gave up his scholarship. since given mari in it up at the university of alabama through

the training is soldiers and also studying so that they could be officers. after d-day and the rate losses that were being experienced on both of the pacific and the european front, the army need it guys with rifles. they need it journeyman so they disbanded the program they took all of those best and brightest that they had pulled out and slid them right back into infantry. and most of them lost their rank they had already earned, they lost the >>. >> and lester said and he and the back with dad at so grateful and then to recommend me for officer. so that's why there was close to little more than 200 and

then to account for every one of them but all of the jewish men i have been blessed toal connect with with those rsnoncommissioned officers it was a large holding camp in 30 days into to transfer the officers out to another camp and then the noncommissioned officers so those jewish men that were already segregated but nobody stood in their way.

so most of the jewish men stepped out in the first and nlsecond camp just for the jews to fall out at morning rollcall. and and the prison within the prison. once noncommissioned soldiers and with the highest-ranking noncommissionednc officer. and then they were pulled out. man so along with the jews

they will be shot and dad said we are not doinge that. and then they could refuse to fall out. not going outtd there. but then when the third one appears and then they threatened him to turn over the jews and my father refused. into the occurred any of them to the point out the jewish men because they knew who they were but none of them did. they were all heroes so i am all grateful. and great question.

>> i am the son of aa baptist pastor i wasn't going to live with a baptist pastor any longer and left it 18. i left high school to join the air force. >> thank you for your service. >> you're welcome. within ten days after going into thee air force i got pneumonian and they put me in the hospital in san antonio texas with the wounded from the korean war that made it that far. and in those days they had 50

or 30 man wars whatever. and they were very skilled to get the wounded and all the stereotypical views that you have ever had about people wounded and those in the body cast and every night people would say somebody come pray for me. somebody come pray for me. the chaplains could be everywhere. so i laid there in the bed and i said i know how to pray. get up and go down there and pray because it could be the last time anybody would pay with a person before they diedo. it was not unusual at all that

the guy beside you was quietly taken away. but you mentionedhe the influence of your father some of the most influential men that i have ever met were in the military. i served with every squadron commander and they served in korea. evenen air force chaplains that were so influential in my life that i spent the last 50 years one - - 55 years as aap baptist minister. [laughter] >> thank you for that service as well. >> and i could see whenever mentioned that about your dadw. but there is no way to know

until we get to heaven how many your dad influenced or how we as believers influence others. >> i think we all have that obligation to make a a difference in the lives of others. >> obviously he did. by the way i will buy your book. [laughter] >> praise god again. [laughter] douglas century as a dear friend of mine when i began the process somebody said you need to write the book and i said you are crazy but then i began seriously thinking about that and praying about that and that's what i needed to do. but that on the top of my prayer list i wanted you wish co-author. i needed help prick i knew i could bring the christian part

of the story. and he was myra answered prayer he lives in new york, a fabulouse writer and a fabulous friend and so i'm grateful for him. so all these men have been tellingg their stories and italian kid growing up in new york and his love affair with his wife. it's a great story. i hope all of you will get the book. actually it comes out next week in the young readers edition which i'm very proud of between nine and 14 -year-olds and it is a fantastic read as well also you can get it on audible in audio form.

they made cd sets they will be sending s to libraries. this book is chock full of historical information but also humanity and how we are to be kind and loving to our neighbor and to do it in the midst of not see terrorism. to say it was a defining moment in his life and he said from that day forward i chose to do what iss right regardless of the risk or the circumstances and then set for a new york attorney that's hard to do. [laughter] >> i read somewhere this book is described as a detectiveve

story for you. but there were a lot of discoveries made not just by you but the people you are interviewing and who you met. it was lester who didn't know how old your dad was your dad had been there longer than he was serving with and they called him the old man. and the idea they didn't know he was only three years older was interesting. so that revelation he is telling me the story to find out he was so much older he had to be in his o thirties he talk about my father i said he was 25 when he stood up to not see major. he said 25?

he was a master sergeant. he had a command of his personality and his ability to lead. he made the army when he was 21 and in 22 months he was master sergeant. it is incredible the journey that he took for quite know how he became master sergeant i do now because of the research and it's in the book but my father's commanding officerec told him said you are now the youngest person who's ever received master sergeant. normally takes 15 or 20 yearsnc today. he was floored and was so surprised. we have had a lot of those moments along theay way. >> other questions quick.

>>. >> my dad was bornn 1812 and was wounded and brought back but was he in the army quick. >> yes. did he come across on d-day quick. >> no. he came over at the end of 44october 1944 specifically theh infantry is where he served in the regiment that was twice the second army on the front lines so they made their way around october 20th made their way to the front lines and got there on december 10th and then december 16th the work came to the end.

>> as a matter of fact these young troops to get acclimated to see what it means to be on the frontlines and six days after they got there it was horrible. the onslaught of the german army that was the battle of the bulge. yes at the tip of the sphere. there was no way for them to defend that area there was a major attack and there was. but they all fought valiantly for three days as 106th infantry. but they fought valiantly and bravely they are more than

heroes because they stopped the germans in theirir tracks and this is what we have postulated that the insertion of those that were so bright and brilliant made all the difference in the world of that battle. >> were almost out of time. how has this journey changed your life? you now have an organization you continue to speak but how has this changed ced you? >> i could get nitty-gritty personal in three months. one - - three minutes.

because dad and his men never surrendered there will or winter faith or the belief but for me i've had to surrender some things the administrative personality to check the boxes and if you go home to tell regina let's go to gatlinburg and hang out for the weekend another out we are taking and the schedule b k will keep. you have people like that in your life? if i go she says is go to gatlinburg she's already in the car she is not calling anybody she don't care she's ready to go.

so for me to jump out to start pursuing i had to quit a full-time job because i cannot do both i was a nonprofit leader for an organization those that mentorhe on campus and we take him to camp three times a year had to step down from that jump into the ocean so i had to surrender and give up and say i don't like how this feels but i will take care ofth it so all that has

been accomplished god has done i look for a publisher or agent or somebody to take me to germany to follow my father's f footsteps to create a documentary that was turned last year into the academy awards and got an honorable mention i did noti pursue anybody to make a movie but there is people in hollywood and will be on the big screen someday. i didn't expect to be on c-span today and here i am can i watch a rerun of this? [laughter] >> let me show you my dad's real legacy. those are my grandbabies.

so as you leave here today to do what's right and be the hero. thank you all.